How to keep your home bug-free this summer

How to keep your home bug-free in the summer.

Summer has officially arrived and that means it’s an important time to stay protected from ticks and mosquitoes.

While it’s important to protect yourself from bugs while hiking or camping in the woods, they could also be lurking in your backyard.

Ticks and mosquitoes are the most common critters that bring not only bites, but illnesses and viruses as well.

CTV Morning Live spoke with Dr. Paul Roumeliotis to talk about ways to protect your backyard from bugs this season.

Ticks

Roumeliotis says personal protection is key when preventing ticks, including long sleeves and insect repellent, but knowing how they move and breed is equally important in keeping them away.

Lyme disease can be transmitted by ticks, an infection that is spread to humans from bites. Ticks can also carry other diseases.

“There’s a lot of things we need to do to understand where ticks live. Ticks like to live in the dark, foresty, grassy areas,” he said.

Homeowners living by a forest or grassland are most at risk of being affected by ticks on their property. Roumeliotis recommends building a barrier of mulch or gravel to surround your property.

“You can prevent the ticks from entering your property because they don’t fly,” he said. “If there’s a lot of shrubbery, old branches, get rid of them too because they like to hide in there.”

The higher the grass, the more likely they will lurk in that area, he says. Making sure your grass is mowed properly is also important.

“If you have picnic tables, you can put gravel or sand or keep the grass as low as possible,” he said.

Roumeliotis says reports of tick bites are increasing in the summer months. He says it doesn’t just impact kids, but those working in shrubbery and landscaping as well.

“The amount of ticks that we see in the area has risen. Right now, we see them across eastern Ontario, Ottawa, between the St. Lawrence River and the Ottawa River.”

Mosquitoes

Outside of an itchy and painful bite, mosquitoes can also carry diseases such as West Nile virus, making it even more important to prevent them from growing near your home.

Roumeliotis says knowing their habits and where they thrive is important in learning how to prevent them.

“When we talk about personal protection, it’s great, but you need to be aware of these mosquitoes and ticks and where they breed and then we can actually diminish the amount of them in our backyard,” he said.

Roumelitois says mosquitoes like to lay their eggs in pooled water. He recommends checking your property to limit areas that collected water, including pales and tires.

“Similarly, pots, wheelbarrows, recycle bins, all those things left out in the rain that create a puddle or a pool, can actually promote mosquito growth in your area,” he said.

Roumeliotis says some may have noticed an increase in mosquitoes this year, linked to higher amounts of rain in the region this year.

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